Stock Upgrade of the Day: DDR Corp (NYSE:DDR)

DDR Corp (NYSE:DDR) shares were down -0.27% on Monday when approximately 3.32M shares were traded, against the average daily trading volume of 2.59M. Analysts at Credit Agricole recently upgraded the stock to Underperform from Buy. DDR Corp (NYSE:DDR) has a consensus Hold rating, according to Zacks Investment Research. 3 analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, 10 have assigned a hold rating, 1 says it’s a buy, and 1 has assigned a strong buy rating to the company.

Analysts have a consensus target price of $16.24 in the 12-month period. The price objective is 9.07% higher than the recent closing price of $14.89. The 52-week price range is $14.67-$19.92 and the company has a market capitalization of $5.45 billion.

DDR Corp (DDR) on January 3, 2017 announced that it closed on the disposition of 27 assets totaling $532 million at 100% ownership during the fourth quarter of 2016. For the full year 2016, the Company closed on $148 million of acquisitions and $1.0 billion of dispositions at 100% ownership with an average base rent per square foot of approximately $11.00.

Fourth quarter activity:

During the fourth quarter, DDR sold 24 operating assets and three land parcels for an aggregate $497 million at the Company’s share. Included in the assets sold during the fourth quarter was a portfolio of 16 assets located primarily in upstate New York that DDR sold for $390 million. DDR also has an additional six operating assets and four land parcels currently under contract for sale, representing aggregate gross proceeds of $74 million at DDR’s share. DDR did not acquire any assets in the fourth quarter.

Full year acquisition activity:

For the full year 2016, DDR acquired one shopping center in Phoenix, Arizona, and one in Portland, Oregon, for an aggregate $148 million at DDR’s share. DDR also is under contract to acquire a Mariano’s-anchored center in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois, for $81 million. The Company expects this transaction to close in early 2017.

Full year disposition activity:

For the full year 2016, DDR sold 50 operating assets and nine land parcels for $833 million at DDR’s share. Proceeds from asset sales were primarily used to reduce leverage.

Tom August, chief executive officer of DDR, commented, “We made great progress on the final steps of our transition in 2016 through the exit of the upstate New York portfolio, as well as select lower-quality and lower-growth assets that were sold at attractive cap rates. We expect to continue the transactional momentum into 2017 as DDR accelerates its portfolio and balance sheet transition.”